Electric outlet fixture



April 21, 1925. 1,534,640

W. B. GODDARD ELECTRIC OUTLET FIXTURE Filed Nov. 25 1921 P La INVENTOR WITNESS n45. yaw/man's BY v ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

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ELECTRIC OUTLET -JF'IXTUBE.

ances and. more; particularly to an electric outlet :tixturetadapted' to, be arranged upon =a suitable support in a. pendant \position -to provide for the taciilewattachment totl' e l fixture of an extension cord :plug or. other '15 ucomplementary i part.

An object of the presentlinventioiris to provide an ornamental; concealingshell to enclose an electric outlet connection ,an-dits complementary plug attachment so that the connection.and plug when in service, are substantially concealed from view and the whole forms an ornamental combined outlet when attached to a suitable support, as an electrolier or a wall bracket from which the device may be suspended in the pendant position and be readily accessible for the attachment and the removal of the plug to the outlet. The shell is constructed and arranged also to substantiall conceal the 80 outlet fixture when the plug has been removed.

A further object of the invention is to provide an ornamental, sectional shell, the leaves or sections of which are so connected and arranged as to be readil moved to an open uncovering position to expose the concealed or partially concealed outlet connection and permit the ready attachment of the complementary plug without the necessity of removing any of the parts of the fixture.

Another object is to provide for the con nection of the shell sections or leaves, as they may be called, so that they can be readily swung to the open position and so held while the plug is being attached to the fixture.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be made manifest in the "following description of the preferred form of the invention, which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part or the specification. It 1s to be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment shown by the said drawings and, description, as variations may .be-adopted,within the scope of the invenntlQllatZtS; set torthj'inthe claims;

:Fi-gurel is a:sifde;elevation ofthe i-mproved outlet device, shown. as attached to the bottom of an electrolier.

Fig. 21is a vertical, sectional view showing-the enclosed outlet; connection and, the applied plug-i11 dotted lines.

,JFig, 8 issa, longitudinal section, 1 vertically through a modifiecbform of the device.

The device ,ofathe ,present invention may be embodied in a variety of, ornamented structures which will. enable the attachment of the deviceto anysuitable electrolier or bracket, th-isbeing accomplished, as by the provision of a shank or stem-like body 2, the upper end of which isprovided with an ,eye 3, to,be fastened in any desired manner ,to the,part-from which itis to be suspended. Upon the lower end of the shank there is suitably arranged a common or other form of electric outlet connection 4, this being secured, as by screws 5, or otherwise, to the forked lower end of the shank 2. The crotch of the fork provides for the clearance of the usualservice wires entering the top of the outlet connection 4: and which wires are not shown.

It is desirable to substantially conceal the outlet connection, especially when it forms a part of an electrolier or ornamental wall bracket or portable or other lamp. To that end I have provided a shell consisting of any suitable number of leaves or sections 6, which may, for instance, be of concavcconvex, leaf-like form providing, when closed, a bulbous shell snugly covering the outlet 5.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the leaves or sections are each provided at their upper ends with an eye or hook 7 and each of these is passed through a respective per-- forated or other bearing lug or part 8, at the upper end of the stem 2, and of which a number is provided equal to the number of the shell sections. This obviously permits the shell sections to hang in a freely pendant position, so that they may be readily spread open at their lower ends to permit the application of a plug P, shown a, plied in dotted lines, in Fig. 2, and in full lines in removed position. As soon as the plug has been applied, the leaf-like sections 6 are released and fall to closed position,

substantially concealing the outlet and its attached plug.

A variation of the construction is shown in Fig. 3, wherein the leaf sections 6 are provided, somewhat below their upper ends, with pivots 6 provided on the shank or stem 2; the upper ends of the sections 6, spreading outwardly somewhat, so that when they are closed together between the finger and thumb of one hand, the lower ends of the sections are spread open to 1111 cover the outlet and permit the attachment of the plug, after which the handle-like upper ends of the sections (3 are released and the sections automatically closed togethcr.

From the above it will be seen that I have provided an extremely simple and inexpem sive type of highly ornamental outlet connection for electrical appliances and have eliminated the use of any wholly detached parts that are so likely to become lost 01' misplaced.

Preferably, that form of the device which comprises hinged leaves will have a pair of the leaves which form together a com plete shell, as shown in Fig. 3.

hat is claimed is:

1. A pendant electric outlet fixture consisting of a longitudinally split shell, the

shell sections being movable to provide ac cess to the interior of the shell, and an outlet connection combined with the shell, the shell sections being normally gravitally positioned to conceal the connection.

2. A pendant outlet fixture comprising a plurality of pendant shell sections normally gravitally positioned to form a substantially closed shell and an electric outlet disposed within the shell and concealed by the pend ant sections.

3. A pendant outlet fixture comprising a head, a plurality of pendant shell sections pivoted to said head, the sections being normally gravitally positioned to form a sub stantially closed shell and an electric outlet secured to said head and disposed within said shell and concealed by said sections.

4. An electric, outlet fixture consisting of a set of pendant, shell forming sections, means to which the sections are pivotally attached, and an outlet connection combined therewith; the sections having portions extending above their pivots so that said por tions may be pressed toward each other to I.

open the sections.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

WILFRED l3. GODDARD. 

